According the the US Drought Monitor, more than 80% of California is in extreme drought. The maps below, courtesy of the Drought Monitor, collects data from 50 different weather indicators, and show that drought in California has been steadily on the rise for the past 4 years. You can see the situation escalate from just one speck of “abnormally dry” in 2011, to a sea of red “exceptional drought” spots in the present day. See the whole visualisation here.

The Author

Eileen McNulty

Eileen McNulty-Holmes is the Head of Content for Data Natives, Europe’s largest data science conference. For the past ten years, they have written, edited and strategised for companies and publications spanning tech, arts and culture. With a core focus in journalism and content, Eileen has also spoken at conferences, organised literary and art events, mentored others in journalism, and had their fiction and essays published in a range of publications. They are passionate about amplifying marginalised voices in their field (particularly those from the LGBTQ community), AI, and dressing like it’s still the ’80s